1 Peter 1
:
Christians should do what is good

v13 So, because of everything that God has done on your
behalf, you must be ready to obey him. Get your mind ready to obey. Think
seriously and clearly. Always continue to hope completely for the good things
that you will receive from God. You will receive those things when Jesus Christ
comes again. v14 Always obey God, like good children who obey their
father. Before you knew Christ, you wanted to do bad things. Do not let
yourselves do those bad things any more. Do not let them rule you. v15
God, who has chosen you to be his people, is completely good. So, whatever
things you do, you must be completely good also. v16 The Bible says: ‘Be
completely good, because I (God) am completely good.’

Verse 16 In the book of Leviticus, God says 5 times that we
should be completely good, like him. (See Leviticus 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7, 26.)

v17 When you pray to God, you call him Father. God decides
about every person because of what that person has done. God decides what
should happen to every person. And God is always fair when he decides about
people. He is never kinder to one person than he is to another person. So
always obey God, your Father, while you live as strangers here on earth. Always
remember how great and powerful God is. v18 Your parents and the people
who lived before you taught you to do certain things. Those things were worth
nothing to God. But now God has saved you from doing things like that. You know
that he has bought you for himself. He did not buy you with things like silver
(a valuable metal) or gold, which will come to an end. v19 Instead, he
bought you with Christ’s own blood, which is worth very, very much to God.
Christ was like a lamb (young sheep) that had nothing wrong with it.

Verse 19 Many years ago, God told Israel’s people to kill
lambs (and other animals) and offer them to him as gifts. The animals had to
have nothing wrong with them. Those gifts to God showed that the people were
sorry. They were sorry because of the wrong things that they had done. They
offered animals to God so that he would choose not to remember those wrong
things. So then he would not *punish them.

‘Christ’s blood’ means his death on the cross. Christ was
completely good. He never did anything wrong. He died on our behalf. And he did
much, much more than any dead animal could ever do. He took away all the wrong
things that anyone has ever done.

v20 Before God made the world, he had chosen Christ
already. God had decided already that Christ would save us. But now, during
these last days, God has shown Christ to the world so that he could help you. v21
It is because of Christ that you believe God. God raised Christ, so that he
became alive again after his death. Then, God showed how very great and
powerful Christ is. That is why you believe God. You are sure about him. He
will do what he has promised. You are sure about that.

v22 You have made yourselves really good and clean because
you have obeyed God’s true message. As a result, now you can really love other
Christians, who are like brothers and sisters to you. So, continue to love each
other very much. Love each other as much as you can. v23 God’s message
causes people to become alive. It will continue always and it will never
change. You have been born again, into a new life, because of that message. It
is not your human parents who caused you to be born into this new life. They
must die. But it is God himself who has caused you to be born again. And he can
never die. v24 The Bible says:

‘All people are
like grass.

Everything
that is good or beautiful about people is only like the flowers in the
fields.

The grass
becomes dry and it dies.

Flowers
fall off after a short time.

v25 But the
message that the *Lord has spoken will continue always.’

[Isaiah
40:6-8]

That message is the good news, which people have taught you.

Chapter 2

v1 So, you must refuse to do bad things. Always say only
things that are true and right. Do not say one thing when really you mean
something else. Do not want other people’s things so much that you stop being
kind to those people. Do not say bad things about people. v2 Instead,
you should want always to know God more and more. New babies always want their
mothers’ milk, which makes them grow strong. Like them, you should want the
true milk, which comes from God. Always want very much to know more about God’s
message. That message is like good food that will make you strong in your
*spirits. It will make you stronger and stronger, so that God will save you
completely. v3 Already, you have begun to know how good the *Lord is.
So, you should want to know him more and more.